
Masked singer
Hamilton has legions of fans across the world, but not all of them got to see Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s game-changing musical with the acclaimed original cast. But next year, they will all get to feel like there were in the room where it happened when Disney brings a “live-capture” Hamilton film featuring the inaugural Broadway cast to theaters.
Unlike this year’s upcoming In the Heights movie, this Hamilton film will not be an adaptation of the Broadway show. As early as 2015, Miranda expressed his desire to film a performance featuring the original cast, and finally did follow through with it in 2016 before he left for other projects and Hamilton spread to cities outside New York. At that time, Miranda said all they would be doing with the footage would be “throwing it in a vault at Gringotts for a bit probably.” But now, it’s time for a withdrawal.
“What I’m most excited about [is] you all have that friend that is like, ‘I saw it with the original cast.’ We’re stealing that brag from everyone because you’re all going to see it with the original cast,” Miranda told Variety at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. “We’re just trying to find the right time to do it.”
In addition to Miranda’s starring role as American Founding Father and first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, the original cast includes Leslie Odom Jr., Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Daveed Diggs — all of whom won Tony Awards for their portrayals of Hamilton’s duel adversary Aaron Burr, Hamilton’s proto-feminist sister-in-law Angelica Schuyler, and the dual role of Hamilton’s French ally Marquis de Lafayette and American rival Thomas Jefferson. Anthony Ramos, who will soon be starring in In the Heights, portrayed the dual role of Hamilton’s best friend John Laurens and son Philip in the original cast. His fiancée, Jasmine Cephas Jones (they met on the production), plays Peggy Schuyler and Hamilton’s mistress Maria Reynolds. Rounding out the cast is Christopher Jackson as George Washington, Philippa Soo as Hamilton’s wife, Eliza Schuyler, Okieriete Onaodowan as spy Hercules Mulligan and Jefferson ally James Madison, and Jonathan Groff as King George III (Groff was one of the first actors to depart the original cast, but made a special return for the filmed performances).
Hamilton will hit theaters on Oct. 15, 2021.
Related content:
- Best of the Decade: Lin-Manuel Miranda on making history with Hamilton
- Hamilton will film the original cast before Lin-Manuel Miranda leaves
- Hamilton will be filmed with its current cast
Genre: Musical; Starring: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Christopher Jackson, Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry; Director: Thomas Kail; Author: Lin-Manuel Miranda; Opening Date: 08/06/15